Leadership Coshocton County helps senior center director grow her skills

April George was born at Coshocton County Memorial Hospital and lived in West Lafayette until the fourth grade, where she attended West Lafayette Elementary School. Following her parents’ divorce, she moved to Toronto, in Jefferson County, to be closer to her mother’s family.

George moved back to Fresno in the eighth grade to live with her dad and stepmom and returned to school in West Lafayette. She graduated from Ridgewood High School in 1992, graduating fifth in her class.

While in high school, George played clarinet and was in the marching and concert bands and was a member of the first band that went to state competition from Ridgewood. She also served as field commander for the marching band her senior year.

George was a member of the Foreign Language Club, National Honor Society and the quiz team. She also was second runner-up to go to the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee in junior high. As a Girl Scout, she received the Gold Award, planning a canal boat ride as her project. She also served as a camp counselor at day camp.

After graduation George attended Kent State University for a year before returning home. She worked a variety of jobs, sometimes two at a time, before getting married in 1998. Shortly after her first son was born in 1999, she became a single mother.

In 2000 she began dating her now-husband John; they welcomed a son in 2003 and married in 2004. As a devoted father figure to George’s first son, John adopted him in 2011. John is employed with the City of Coshocton in the street department, and together their blended family encompasses two sons and a granddaughter in Ohio with a stepson and stepdaughter in New Jersey, as well as two grandsons age 10 and 4.

George began her career with Kno-Ho-Co-Ashland Community Action Commission in 2001 as a home-delivered meal driver for the Coshocton County Senior Center. This was an off and on position as she worked when she was able and was eventually asked to do transportation and activities in addition to the home-delivered meals. She then began learning billing and coding and assisted the home-delivered meal coordinator with home visits.

After a time she started helping with data entry, and in 2009 she became the coordinator of the home-delivered meal program.

Describing her position at that time, she said, “I wore many hats.”

In 2022 she became co-director of the senior center until early 2025, at which time George became the director of the senior center. She said she makes sure everything runs smoothly every day and especially makes sure the meals go out. She is responsible for overseeing a staff of 23, which includes drivers, kitchen and office staff, and a custodian.

She schedules staff and coordinates 11 meal routes to ensure coverage for all areas of Coshocton County. She learned how to organize the drivers when she was coordinator of the home-delivered meal program and recognizes the importance of knowing the people.

George also is responsible for budget reporting to the county commissioners to account for levy funds, finding and writing requests for proposals and grants from the Area Agency on Aging, and creating budget summaries. She also teaches Geri-Fit classes three times a week and fills in for Bingocize when needed.

Additionally, George schedules the many activities that occur at the senior center and helps with the newsletter. She gets to know the seniors who come to the center by helping serve meals for the congregate lunches, requests wellness checks by the sheriff’s department as necessary, and makes referrals for additional care and services.

She describes the center as a hub of information for seniors in Coshocton County. Most recently, George received ARPA funding for a new outdoor walk-in cooler/freezer for the center.

In the community George is a member of the Coshocton Public Transit Advisory Board. When her children were younger, she was an athletic booster.

George learned about Leadership Coshocton County by attending a recruitment breakfast at McWane Ductile. She said she decided to participate to enhance and build her leadership skills and to ensure she is leading those at the center in the best possible way. She also said she wants to network with other leaders in the community.

Of the community, George said, “Coshocton is a strong community. Most of the time, people are there for each other. I like seeing all the things going on and new businesses coming in. There are a lot of helping hands in this community — people that step in to help out. It’s a nice place to raise children because of the small-town feel but close enough to the big city that you can still have those experiences as well.”

To make the county stronger, George said she would like to see more jobs — something to keep the younger people here. "A lot of younger people leave as there aren’t a lot of opportunities,” she said.

When asked if George would recommend LCC for others, she said, “Yes, it’s a great opportunity to learn more about yourself as well as seeing that a lot of people are going through the same things you are as a leader. A lot of it relates.”

George said she recently started running 5ks and has done 10 or 12 since starting in April. "I decided to try something new and don’t expect to win. I just want to continue doing a little better each time. Believe in yourself — because when you do, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.”